The Sun. — London, England, 1809-03-01 00:00:00

IMPERAL PARLIA.MENT. 11017 SE 'OF PEERS. TUESDAY, FEB. 28. Mr. Johnson, froM the London DOck Company, presented a Report, and also an Account of the Rcteeipts and Disbursements of tho.said CoinPatiY, from November 39, 1807, to November 30, 1808. 'fhe proceedings relative to the Banbury Peerage were resumed, and ordered to be continued on Fri• day next. Counsel was heard on behalf of Mr. Campbell, - Wing for a Divorce. This cause bad been already suspended, on account of a deficiency in the evi dence brought forward to prove Mt. Campbell's marriage; and it now was postponed to Thursday next, from a nearly similar motive. The marriage was proved to be valid, according to the laws in three in Jamaica, by the testimony of a Solicitor from that Island ; but when the fad of adultery came to be proved, the only witness on Whose testimony Mr. Campbell's whole evidence seemed to depend, a • woman of the name of Mary Brothertob, who 1 served Mrs. Campbell in the capacity of lady's maid and housekeeper, expliined herself in such a confused and almost (contradiaory manner, that the Lord Chancellor ordered the case for further examination on Thursday next. She declared UM criminal intercourse to have taken place in April, 1804 ; and - when asked by the Duke of Norfolk, 'why she had not communicated what sh 6 knew to Mr. Campbell before the month of September, 1806, said, " that she thought she had not sufficient proofs of the fa& and did not divulge what she had seen, through her great attachment to her mistress." To another question, whether she bad ever suspected her mistress's virtue before April, 1804, and whe ther, since that time, as she had continued to live with her, she had sem her fall into a similar mis condua, she replied, " that she never had the least reason to doubt Mrs. Campbell's faithful observance of the marriage vow, before the Month of Apia, and had never since observed her swerving in the least from her dtity." • Adjourned till to-morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS. TUESDAY, FE8. 28. Mr. Pe•ret Weer presented a Petition from the ?dimmers for, debt in thc.Gaol of Coventry, praying relief by an Insolvent Act. . The Scotch. Law (respecting Child Mulder) Amendment Bill wan rend the eecond lime, and Committed, at the instanceol Sir Samoze RoatteeY, for this day se'neight. Mr.. BAtaxes i Chairman of the Select Committee on abuses in the 'disposal' of East India Patrtanage, moved to rescind the Order for' taking into the custody of the Serjeaet at Arms, John Annesley Sheo. 440 Calvert, as that person 'had since sut ren dered himself. The motnin then passed. Mr. BANKES then moved A ItesoltitiOn, that the said John Antsesley Slie* alias Calvert, (reeiting his offences) be committed to his Mai , sty's Cs,e4 New ate ; and that the Keeper bhull to-mor vow, and from time to time bring t 3 the Prisener, as often as may he necessary, to give evidences before thsessaid Cummittee. Ordered,. • WIDOWS OF NAVAL, AND MARINE OFFIVERS. • * jilt'. W. Weeeeseiv Poor moved for leave to bag in a Bill, for the more convenient payment of the annuities and other allowances, to the Widows of Naval and Marine Officers, and those on the Compassionate List. .About the year 1731 or 173 a, a fond was established by the Government of that day, for the Relief of the Widows of the Officers of the Navy, towards which it was deemed rape client to levy a dedatien of threepence in the pound, upon the Pay of all Commissioned and Warrant • QAicers, and also to establish an allowance from all ships iii the service, under cite denomination of Wi t dows Men, i. c. the pay of one man out of every hundred men in each ship's company, was to be appropriated its aid of the said fund. After some years had elapsed, this was found insufficient, and the pay of an additional Widow's man was added. In this way the fund had proceeded up to the re sent time, but occasionally it had been found inade quate of later years: however, it had considerably increased so that the fund was now rich, having a stock of 170,0001, in the a'per cents. end the num ber of widows relieved from it in the last year was no less than 1800. The sates of allowance began with Sol. a year to Captain's Widows, and descended in propertionate gradation to those of Warrant Officers. But it had been found, in the management of this fund, that great inconvenience and distress had arisen in consequence of the widows being obliged to apply annually in London for their allowance. One of the objects of his Bill, therefOre, was to en tible the Court of Assistants to pay them quarterly at their own houses, wherever resident, in the same manner as was 4et;led for the more convenient payment of the Widows of Military :Offieets, by a Bill pilled about two years since. lie had Much conversation with the person who managed this busi . ness at the War, Office, and found there would be tut difficulty its assimilatieg the disposal ofthe Naval rand. It would - .be desirable also to exteud this / node of relief to others who were objetbs of the charity, though not exaetly its the same way. The Board of Admiralty had addressed his Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to older, that the donations to persons upon the Cunt. paisionate, Fund should, in like manner, be paid, quarterly, to those appointed to receive them, at their own houses. Ills Majesty was pleased to sap- prove of this ; and , it was another. purpose of his Bill to enable the Board of Admiralty to sete6t such objetts as were properly entitled to, aid from the Compassionate Fund ; to alio* them such slims as they should think ht, and :transmit their allowance quartvriy. These sums to•be charged yearly in the ordivary, estimates for the navy. It was also intend ed to transmit the half-pay of Marine Officers to (Item i the same mintier as to those of the army, and therefore the Bill would enable them to receive It at their houses. FTc (hoe& it fair at the same Berle that he proposed . te include the allowances of the Cony:o,6omile List in the annual estimated of the navy, that lie alsotild abolish the allowance &l t` which were new regularly, clialcoll in, acsounts of every vessel in the seri , eenclutled by moving . for It?ave to bring ' Mr. WA stetnded the motiotl. -- , Sir C. POLE regretted not to have heard feem the Hun Gentleman in the detail. of his intended Bill, any proWSion for a purpose 41110 he conceive d to the full as Impurtant •as any other bject it had in view, natzely,lb proviSion fur the orphan children. of Naval .slid Marine (hiders, and their education. Mr. POLE replied, that tA previsions intended ' by his Bill, were the same as those fur the families of Military Officers, namely feethe WidOWs and orphans, who were to remain on the fund.so long as they continued objet s of charity. , - Mr. cA.LCRAFT asked the Honourable gentle.. man whether the widows of Marine Officers were not intithid to some 'allowance from the funds of Chelsea Hospital, inasmuch as Marine Officers were obliged to contribute to that fund, as well as to Greenwich Hospital. Mr. Pocs said he feared that he was not pre pared to answer satisfactorily the question so unex pectedly put to hint by the Hon. Gentleman. But he thought the contributions of Marine Officer's to Greenwich Hospital had nothing to do with the 'Widows' Fund, as all the money paid to Greenwich was at the disposal of that , Corporation, and subject to 110 interference from the Board of Admiralty. Leave was given to bring in the Bill. Mr. DuNnAs - moved to recommit to the same ComMittee the Petition of J. Goodin, a Clerk of the : House, respecting an error in the engrossed transcript of the Distillery Bill last year.---Ordered. NEW DOCKS AT PURFLEET. A Member moved for leave to bring in Bills to confirm an agreement between Government . and Samuel Whitbread, Esq. for certain lands purchased of him at•Purfcet, and also to make compensation fur certain other lands and hereditanients, purchased in the same place for the purpose of having docks there.—Leave given. Lord FOLKESTONE, pursuant to his notice of yes- terday, rose to move, that the House be called over on Wednesday the Bth of March. The question to come before the House that day 'was of the utmost importance, and therefore he conceived that the fullest possible attendance of Members was. neces sary. With that view, and with that only, it was that he should now move for a call of the House on that day.. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER Said,,titat he should ,not. have thought it necessary to► make such a motion, when he considered the manner in which the House had been attended during the whole of the time when the important subject al luded to by .the Noble Lord was under investigation, and therefore he had no doubt of a fell attendance upon' the day appointed for taking that most im portant subject again into consideration. The quei. Con, as the Noble Lord had jtKtly observed, was one of the utmost importance, and it was his own wish that in all its parts it should peet7the most grave j and solemn consideration before the. full6t possible 'attendance of Members.' lie therefore. abstained from ally resistance to the motion, feeling, as he did that however unbeeessary he might conceive it to be, yet any opposition to it on his part would be subject to animadversions not et the most liberal na ture. But in giving his assent to the motion, he truitted'that the ritivslipt - t of that day would not be further delayed. The'rnoticin•might haVe the effect of securing the attendance of all Members in town, or within a 'short difitanee, but It could not be ex pected that in so short a notice as eight or ten days, any thing like an 'effectual tall of the House could be had. But it was not because the call could not operate to its fullest extent that it was not 'therefore to he adopted. Lord F . OLKSTONR assured tire. Right lion. Gen tleman, that he bad no intention of further 00+ potting ti k e busine4s,neither was any stick Intention entertained by his Hon. Friend (Mr. Wardle). Mr. BRAOGE BATHURST thought the twit of the House equally unnecessary and improper. He should think it quite impossible that in so short a Period as eight days, it would have any effect in bringing Gentlemen from the remotest c orners o f t he United Kingdom. It would be merely a call in name, and nut in effect. From • the full attendance of Members during the whole of the Inquiry, there could be no doubt of a full attendance on the night Of discussion ; and . although a tolerable opinion of a subject might be found on written evidence, yet perhaps, it was going too tar to call on Members corning from a distance, who would °not have time to examine and consider the printed evidence, after their arrival in town, in order to form their opi nions, to decide upon so solemn a subject, perhaps the day after. Mr. CILAULES ADAMS approveu tutmotion for a Call of the House, and thought, that although it could not be expected to procure the attendance of MeMbers from Scotland and Ireland, yet if it only obtained that of half a dozen additional Members, upon such an occasion, even that would be of some importance. General GASCOYNE also thought the Call could not be effeetual. It appeared to him that to attempt enforcing this call at so short a notice, would be an abuse of the power of the House, and tend to defeat its authority on future, occasions. Members at a distance would suppose it a serious call, and no doubt expect that they would be allowed , a subsequent day to offer their excuses s so that the obAed of the pre. sent call would he defeated. Lord lisotatsTora said, he felt the Call could not' be soeffe6tive as was desirable, upon so' short a no. tire; .and was himself very sorry it had not occurred to him to move tor it at an earlier.clay. He hoped, however, the House, in justice' to its authority, would 'enforce the call for the Bth of March; for hoWever it might be afterwards disposed to excuse those Members who could skew reasonable, cause for their, non-attendance theo, he could hardly sup. pose. that some question would not arise out of the proceedings of 'that day of the utmost moment, Which would, at au, early subsequent day, call for sOlemn decision, and consequently render necessary, the fullest possible attendance of IVlernbers. ' , Mr.,.llmmas opposed the motion. He thought that' call of the House,• On so short a notice, was unprecedented. it eras something so preposterous, that when he heawl. of. the Noble Lord's avowed intention, he thought it quite iropossible that he could 'be serious. The attendance of the House already upon this subje4 had been remarkably full; they had divided more than a,majority of the whole liouie, and he did riot think that at the pre sent lotion, and at so short a notice, : there was any chatka of a further attendance. besides, bq would ask, was it a desirable thing that Members who had never heard ib \A ord of the evidence in this case, should be called on to decide upon the question, who perhaps would not arrive fill the day before, and could not have time to read or consider the written evidence ? There were mantMembers who did net wish to interfere on this question. Was it desirable to bring such men from the remotest corners of Ire land or Scotland? And,. besides,- though the-House had authority to enforce their attendance at a call on that day, it had no authority afterwards to prevent their goiog out again, or to force them to vote. - He was docidedly adverse to the call, and should take the sense of the House upon it. Sir Jot is NEWPORT said, that the Hon. Member who had all of a sudden shewn so much tenderness towardi the Members from Ireland, and reluaance to inconvenience them, bad asserted, that a call at so short, a notice was unprecedented. He would beg leave, however, to refer him to the Journals, so recentl y as the i ith of last February, where there was an order that the House be called over on the following day. Mr. 13/m(2s 'answered, that this was in the case of a ballot for an Eleaidn Committee, where the call was pendipg de die in diem. Lord VOLE.STONE instanced another case on the Journals, during the discussion of the Slave Trade in Int , where there was a call of the House at eight days. • • The question 3,V35,110W put on Lord FOLISTONE'S motion, when the Hotise divided— • Ayes rues Majority tar the Call 11 is .--47 On re-admission to the gallery we found Sir G. F,. HILL speaking in opposition to the mo tion of Mr: -Nlonigamery, for, leave to bring in a Bill, to quiet, all. doubts respeAing the tenure of freehold property byAoman Catholics in Ireland 'on the ground that' the Bill was unnecessary,ow it was . founded merely upon an,obje6tion made by one of the Counsel in, thePonegal t;le6lion Committee, t 9 the vote: of a particular Catholic elector, which objcdion was unanimously over-ruled by that Corn mittee, and consequently - could not stand in proof of the necessity of a Bill which was only calcUlated to excite doubts whew no doubts existed. Sir Armen VlLLL'lnikant said,, that considering the effect which this discussion might have upon the minds of the persons possessing property of the description alluded to, in Ireland, he could not but wish that the klon, Member had mentioned the .subject to lint before he introduced' it into%the House, in order that an , opportunity might have been giVen cif 'consulting with those persons . who might be supposed the most capable of giving an opinion upOn, the subjea. The poiut which the Honourable Member proposed to settle by this Bill, arose in an Election Committee; but it was deter- Mined itt the Cortimittee precisely in the same man .ner which it was proposed to explain the law in this Bill. It appeared to him,, trieretore; that no doubt, however„coqld exist upon the fiubjeta. At all events, he hoped the Honourable Member would not press the Bill', but that time would be given for consulting with the persons at the head of the law department in Ireland, who of eotrae must be beat qualified to judge of the qieerssity oK expedieocy of this mea sure. Sir J. NMPORT dectdedly protested against the doCtrine just suggested hy the Right Hon. Secretary, that any Member of that House, before he ventured .. , to propose a Bill to Parliament, was bound, in the • first instance, to submit his object to any Officer of the Crown, however dignified in rank or high in power. 11 such a doetrine were to be once admit tech-41*er° would be an end to the undoubted. privi leges of every Manlier of that House, and to the deliberative funCilous of Parliament. • Sir ARTHUR WELLESkEY, in explanation, said, that the Hon. Barr. had misunderstood him .he never meant to contend that a INfember of Parlia ment ought to submit any measure to the conside ration ,ot the Officers of the Crown before be pro posed it to Parliament, he meant merely to state, that as this was a Bill purporting to declare and ex plain the law yespecting the preperty, of a very con siderable number of persons in Ireland,, it certainly would have been most prudent to have consulted with. the high LaW'Authorities upon the .subjeft ; before a question was,discussed hi that House,which was undoubtedly calCulated to give very great -unea siness. in Ireland . . Mr. CHOKER said, the Bill 'appeared to .him wholly unnecessary. The qnestion arose, as had been already stated, in an 14ettion Commiuee,wbere, the ingenuity of an .English Lawyer started a doubt upon a. point which bad never been considered as doubtful, Or had created ,any di ff iculty in Ireland. But the Committee unanimously over-ruled the ob jee-tibn as soon us it was made : upon what ground, then, could it be said that any doubt existed upon the , subjeel ? If indeed the Committee bad decided the point the other - way, or had even said that. it was one upon which they entertained any doubt, there might have been some 'necessity for this Bill: But it appeared to him quite unprecedented, to bring in a Declaratory Bill, when- no do doubt existed; mere ly because an ingenious Lawyer had started an in genious objet;tion in An petition Committee, which objection was over-ruled as soon as it was made. Mr.' MONTGOMERY said, it was the opinion of many eminent Lawyers in Ireland that the Bill was necessary, and amongst Others, of his Majesty's Attorney General., Mr. 91-1/arA e)tplained, that some doubts had arisen about the legal tenures of Freeholds, by Ro man Catholic Freeholders, who have negletted to qualify before they came to, the'possession of . such Freeholds, as by law required; this Bill,, therefore, was to remove all dotibtSiand quiet all apprehen sions upon the legality of such tenures, by allowing the parties further time ThU,QueJtion Wasthen put, and leave given to.. bring in the Bill. I.c.E Of YORK'S LETTERS. Mr. WYNNE stated, that in consequence of what paoed in the Rouse on Friday last, be thought the 5t.4e6,1, which .had.,been then alluded to, was of a nature that required that Parliament should express its opinion upon it. He rather wished that the bu siness should have• been taken up by some man of greater experience. He, however, telt so strongly convinced of the neces,sity of sotne•retolUtion; that b without losing any time, give notice, that it *as; his intention to move a resolution, ". that it was consistent with the duly and privileges of that House, to come to a determination on evidence exa mined at their bar, without submitting the case to any other tribunal." Although this question had_no necessary bearing upon the subjea which was to be discussed nest week, yet as it might have a col lateral and indire& bearing, be wished to defer moving that resolution until the House should come to a decision on the He hoped . the greit importance of the subjea would . excuse him to the House, for giving this notice in a moridetailed form than was usual. . . The SenAtsa asked the Hon. Member. w,lntrdaY he chose the notice : t o stand for. Mr. WYNNE replied for Menday se'nnight. The CHANCELLOR of the ExcitetaUkt thought, that it would be a fairer way to have this resolution brought forward before the discussion, in order that the matter might be put at rest, and that there might • not be a suspicion suspepded over the bead of his Royal Highness that, in writing that letter, he had aaect contrary to the privileges of that louse,, Al though he did not wish to multiply discusaions upon this subje&, yet he was persuaded that this was matter which could be easily explained. Mr. BATHURST agreed perfealy with what had fallen from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. If there had been any violation of the privileges. of that House, the common course way, that coknPlitint' °f breach of privilege took precedence of 111 other dis. cussions. When the consideration and rank of the party accused were taken into the account, he thought, however, a great deal of latitude and in dulgence should be allowed. For these reasons, as well as those which had been stated by the Chan cellor of the Exchequer--. The SPEAKER here interfered, and stated, that i t war contrary the usage of the House to enter into any di3cuision on notices given. There was, pert haps, some little irregularity in introducing a notice • with observations, but there could never be discus sion upon a mere notice . ola motion to be wade on a 11.1 t nye day. The nation was then :";,:i.ed for Monday se'nnight. MALT DIsTILLEP,V. The CHANCELLOR of the ExcaiauEtt, after se veral preliminary observations, moved that a Com— , . mince should be appointed to enquire into the re- gulations by which the drawbacks and countervailing duties on exportation of spirits bet Ween Great nr.i tain and Ireland were- regulated; as also to point nut, what alterations were necessary in the intercourse between the two countries, Sc) as to pl a c e 'it on tile .foundation of reciproi.ity. Sir- JOHN Newvowr thought there were maNY ()tiler 'points in the Union in the, two.couti" tries were not on the foundation of reciprocity. - If then the people of Irelapd bad furgone many 00" advantages, he did not see why the Act 0:: 11 --"i °11 should be revised in this particular alone. Mr. PARNELL could not pet:Cc:lye in the Act , 6f the Union any such principle as that recippority wh,ich is spoken of in the present iniW"' A ed The CUANCIii.t.OA of th e Exclieeeo wort.pr . that tfiv tionouyable Baronet altouiti tn . in.k It nece' sary to have a revision of the whole AA of - Union ' merely because he had directed the att. tion of the House to that part. of - it whiCh related to the inter-, comae of Evirits. The tad was, as the loterconiA now stood, the inconvenienc e Wa s ' mere ly t o Ili' land, an d s not at all to, this country. He, theretbre,' did not expea any o?position from Meinterrs of t4t part of the -United Ktngdom. A Committee was then appointed, among whom, were Mr. Foster, Mr, -liuskiason,.. Mr. Long, Mr. Parnell, Sohn Newp ort , an d the 44AdirOC a t o of Scotland. . , Mi. PoNsolqy then rose to put two quest i o ns to the Secretary for F ore i g n Atlairs; His ..hest clues. tion was, whether the Treaty, • Which had hea l stated to have been concluded with Spain . was Y et ~ ratified, and whethe r t h e rat i f i cation had com p over He next wished.to 4e informed whether it was true that a number of ow troops coming from Lisbon or from Cork had p resente d theinselics. be f ore Cadiz, and been refused admittance ? Mr. Secretary C ANNING said, that 36 to the first question, he could answer, that the ratif i cat i o n had not been received ; but he could tiot pay whether it had bethi ratified or hot. Tlia second question, was one of greater d e li cacy , an d even if the tad were $O , perhaps it might not tie proper to answer it ; bal ° could declare, that h e did not' know that uriPet tc " circutostanee had taken pl ace : Mr. GILES ASke?:i :the .C11,014:31.1.01t of the CiIIsQUER it he Litt any intention of prOposing at alteration .in :the Stamp Duties this year. I ' l ' l particularly alluded. to the duty to Which drafts spot= Bankers who resided more than ten miles from the. metropolis• were !table ? The en.mcrti.r.ott of the FY_CIIF:iUSIt answered , that he had no intention of any alteratioti : in this respect. The CIiit.NOULLOR of the EXCHEQUER gare'HOtiCe , that he should move for the introduaion 0 1a Clause to prevent,Jor a time to be limited, the xt'°rt"Ci°l:. of Spirits film Great Britain to Ireland, an -,t it" Ireland to Great Britain. • bi bc.:." After a short . conversation acr oss the to Sir tweet) the ettaisroaccoa E the.xcHEug--t , Ki JOHN Newpoitl., Mr. Fos T rn, an d Mr. [303 s sou, the Bill:went through : the Catmuittee With 3 few verbal alterations, The Repurt was then received, the Amencl(ne l44 agreed to, and ,the Bill ord e r e d t o be read 3 04 time to-inurrow. SICILY. Mr.Secreialy CA&NtNG rose t o ma ke some obser vations on what had fallen, On a former night, Iwo an Honourable Member (Mr. W. Smith), mill"' he was Sorry,not to see then in his place, upon 'a stlbj" l: that it would have been his duty to have answered him on that night, If he tad then been in the, House. He could not h e lp saying, .that the topi . alluded to• was one of those that ooght, not upon light grounds to be stated to the House. Although it was stipp ose d th a t not hi ng was to be repeated that passed in that House, yet% the tact was well know n, that what was stated in that House was nut only read in this but in other countries, and the 40 111 # mou enemy would derive great advantage final: any thing which could tend to make jealousies between his Majesty and his Allies. ~The state ment of the Hon. M e mber was, as he was infontw tl , that the Sicilian Government and nation vv:ete such 8 state that it was our duty to propose sotti''', thing of politi c al regeneration to them.' - He Could assure the House, that there existed the 111 PAL CU..* t '1